Introduction
Walking in the forest and realizing its potential requires more of our bodies than simply the repetitive motion of moving one foot in front of the other. The act of walking can incorporate all of our senses in addition to the use of our legs. When I go for a walk, I open my eyes to see the world; I tune my ears to listen to the sounds water, the wind and the birds. I inhale through my nose in order to smell the sun, rain and earth. I use my body and my mind to feel and to be aware of the air. Triggs & Irwin (2014) describe how “walking was at one time the only means capable of modifying the environment and continues today, to be an aesthetic method of making oneself feel at home on the earth” (p.22). I contemplate how I can “feel at home” when I walk in the forest. On each of my walks, I attempt to attune myself to the space, the environment and the natural materials around me; as well, I seek a sense of belonging in nature.
One day toward the end of the summer of 2018, I went for my habitual morning walk along a trail during which I came to a familiar a small bridge with a handrail, on which I spotted five little rocks. They were lined up perfectly; the row of rocks was barely noticeable and yet it caught my attention. I received the invitation from those five little rocks to experience beingin the moment and dwellingwith the materials. Truman and Springgay (2016) state “Walking also provides a way to open up the non-visual senses, finding ways of knowing and communicating through movement, and helps to de-familiarize everyday actions” (p.261). The five little rocks helped me to de-familiarize my everyday walking. I stopped and contemplated a possible story behind the row of rocks. Who had placed the rocks then? Why did that person do so? Who else would notice the five little rocks? Nowadays, it is not at all uncommon to see people glued to their phones. These people are generally oblivious to what their toddler may be doing or communicating from their stroller, the whereabouts of their dogs or what is happening in the immediate environment. Their lack of awareness has caused me to wonder how I could entice these same people away from their devices to pause and experience a sense of wonder in a given moment. How would it indeed be possible to press the pause button amidst the frantic busyness of life and simply experience mindfulness?
My intention in this project is by creating and recreating daily artistry, how is it possible to provoke others to attentively stop and react to my invitations? I am also interested in my invitation will provide experiences of being and dwelling in the moment among others. Furthermore, I have been wondering how I may respond to and dwell in my own artistic evocations and provocations. Kind (2017) asserts “Dwelling is about being immersed in the currents of the lifeworld…, the idea of dwelling takes into account processes of working with materials and not just doing something to them” (p.9).
With these thoughts in mind, I have started to incorporate my own a/r/tographical living inquiry into my daily walk. “A/r/tography is active and responsive: It requires attentiveness to what is seen and known and to what lies beneath the surface” (Springgay, Irwin & Kind, 2005, p.905).
A/r/tography as living Inquiry
According to Irwin (2013), a/r/tography is “a form of practice-based research that recognizes making, learning, and knowing as interconnected within the movement of art and pedagogical practice” (p.37). A/r/tography (Iwrin, 2008) is the process of living inquiry. The a/r/tograpical living practice is not about finding answers and acquiring knowledge. It is an ongoing process of wondering and “questioning where artistic contexts, materials and processes create transformative events, interactive spaces in which the reader/ viewer/ audience can co-create in meaning-making” (LeBlanc, & Irwin. 2018, p.3). A/r/tography allows artists, researchers and educators to invite others to engage with each learning process, to enter aesthetic spaces alive with potential for wonder and discovery, and to emphasize the emergence and what is being learned through this emergence (Springgay, 2008).
My intention in this project is to find a means through creating and recreating daily artistry in a particular space, which has become an outdoor atelier, to provoke others to stop attentively and react to my invitations. Furthermore, I want to explore the extent to which others’ reactions may in turn provoke me to recreate my daily artistic provocation
Walking in the rain
Looking for life and cheer
Picking autumn leaves.
The multitude of colours inspired me to paint the top of my wood stump.
My hand became a paint brush,
the leaves, my paints and
the tree stump, my canvas.
A lady walked by, looked at my painting and exclaimed,
“From now on, I am going to call you,‘a nature artist!’”
I am now becoming an artist in residence in my outdoor atelier.
(from daily journal)